Fans who watched the game in Atlanta this morning will not forget it for a long time. 4 overtimes and 68 minutes – “Atlanta Hawks” of Zaza Pachulia and “Utah Jazz” spent this time on “Philips Arena”. It happened for the first time in history of National Basketball Association (NBA) since 1997. And the most important. Georgian center played perfectly in this game (139:133). He earned 15 points and 20 rebounds and established records of career.
“Atlanta Hawks” held the third game in three days and it was the fourth victory for them. Though, they spent all their energy for it. “Utah” which had won 6 games in a row gained advantage after 15-point difference. It is difficult to describe with words what happened during overtimes. You must have seen it with your eyes…
It is pleasant that Pachulia played one of the main roles in this historical game. He left arena at the last seconds of the fourth overtime. Zaza played for 24 minutes without substitution (!).
Now, about records. Before this game, Pachulia spent the most time in the game against “New York” on March 15, 2006. Georgian center played for 50 minutes six years ago. This time, he spent 54:10 minutes on the arena and did his best.
Zaza scored 6 from 11 2 points and all three free throws. He also improved rebound record. Zaza earned 20 rebounds. It was the best result in this game. Jefferson (“Utah Jazz”) earned 17 rebounds.
Georgian basketball player collected 2 assists, 1 steal and 3 block-shots. 3 block-shots are his best result. Zaza earned it for the 6th time in his career. Pachulia did not lose the ball during 54 minutes (!). He received 5 personal fouls.
Four basketball players could not end the game up which lasted 3 hours and 17 minutes. Al Jefferson, Paul Millsap and C. J. Miles, leaders of “Utah Jazz”, who earned 70 points and 36 rebounds, left the arena in the decisive overtime.
Josh Smith (“Atlanta Hawks”) who earned 22 points left the arena earlier though his team played its best without him. Captain Joe Johnson had the best result in the host team. He played for 55:23 minutes and earned 37 points.
“Hawks” has 30 victories and is in the third place in Southeastern Conference. The team moved to the fifth place in Eastern Conference. Now, “Atlanta” will have a rest and will play against “Milwaukee Bucks”, one of the former clubs of Pachulia, on March 28.
Atlanta - Utah 139:133 4 ot. (29:22, 26:18, 20:34, 23:24, 2:2, 13:13, 10:10, 16:10)
Atlanta: J. Johnson (37 p. 8 reb.), Smith (22 p. 10 reb. 6 a.), Teague (18 p. 7 reb. 9 a.), Pachulia (15 p. 20 reb.), Hinrich (12 p. 5 a.); Williams (16 p. 9 reb.), Green (10 p.), A. Johnson (9 p.), Collins.
Utah: Jefferson (28 p. 17 reb.), Millsap (25 p. 13 reb.), Hayward (19 p. 8 reb. 5 a.), Miles (17 p. 6 reb.), Harris (11 p. 5 reb. 10 a.); Favors (14 p. 7 reb.), Burks (10 p. 5 reb.), Carroll (5 p.), Tinsley (2 p.), Karter (2 p.).
Dato Manjavidze
